The European Union and Australia enjoy a strong, dynamic and continuously evolving partnership, the foundations of which were laid in the 1960s.

An umbrella Framework Agreement was signed in 2017 and is currently being provisionally applied. This Agreement updates and expands the bilateral relationship further deepening our shared values and close historical, political, economic and cultural ties.

The EU and Australia are like-minded partners on the international stage and work together to find solutions to global challenges, both bilaterally and multilaterally. Strategic cooperation is ongoing in areas such as counter-terrorism, development and humanitarian aid, the promotion of human rights as well as supporting the rules-based international system.

What are some of the challenges in a post-COVID world that the EU and Australia can work on together? How do EU interests in the Indo-Pacific align with Australia’s?

To mark Europe Day (held on 9 May each year), and co-hosting with the European Delegation to Australia, AIIA Victoria invites you to join HE Dr Michael Pulch and Jim Middleton for the latest instalment of our Meet the Ambassador series.

His Excellency Dr Michael Pulch is the European Union Ambassador to Australia, following his previous term as EU Ambassador to Singapore. Before that Dr Pulch headed the Russia Division in the European External Action Service (EEAS) in Brussels, where he coordinated EU policies on Russia and chaired the EU Interservice Group on Russia. From 2006 to 2011 he was posted to Beijing as Deputy Chief of Mission of the EU Delegation to China, in charge of EU policies on China and relations with Mongolia. Dr Pulch entered the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1986, serving in the United Nations Directorate before he was attached to the German embassy in Seoul as a political officer.

In a 50-year journalistic career as a political reporter Jim Middleton has reported extensively from all countries in Southeast and North Asia (apart from North Korea) as well as India and Pakistan. From 1980-86 he was the ABC's North America correspondent in New York and Washington; from 1988-2007 he was the ABC's Chief Political Correspondent and later Political Editor in Canberra. From 2008-2014 he was Chief Anchor for the Australia Network (the ABC's overseas network), and then for Sky News Australia. He was a Vice Chancellor's Fellow at the University of Melbourne from 2015-2017.

This event is open to all, and it will also be streamed online via Zoom. Registrations close on 10 May at 2pm, after which you will receive a follow-up email containing details of how to join the Zoom webinar. The event will commence at 5:30pm AEST (Melbourne time, UTC+10).

AIIA Victoria gratefully acknowledges the Walter Mangold Trust Fund for its ongoing support of our young members.

To download the pdf flyer please click here.